Monday, July 31, 2017

About half of the people
in the US approve of President Trump’s job performance for the first half of
the year. There are, however, about an equal number that disapprove. Most of
the detractors, as you would think, are Liberals, mostly the anti-American
media. These schlubs will never, ever approve of anything that Trump accomplishes.

During the Trump campaign
in 2016, there was a phenomenon known as the “Trump Effect” which was suppose
to describe the effect of Trump’s prognostications on school bullying. It was,
of course, Liberal tripe. I have a better idea: why not refer to some of the
nice things happening because of the influence of Trump as the “Trump Effect”?
For example, protections for the unborn are gaining across the country, and
there is a determined effort to secure religious liberty.

To wit:

A movement against
committing murder in the womb is gaining strength in Kentucky. In fact, Kentucky
may become the first state to do away with abortion clinics completely. Efforts
by Planned Parenthood to construct new abortion clinics have been stopped, and
it is now illegal to kill children who have reached 20 weeks of development. Requiring
doctors to show pregnant women ultrasounds of their maturing babies is required
by law.

The state of Tennessee followed suit by making it illegal
to kill an unborn baby beyond viability (able to survive outside the womb).

Indiana tightened parental consent laws by allowing a
judge to inform the parents of underage girls when she is considering an abortion.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are going crazy trying to eliminate this
unprecedented expansion of parental rights. Previously parents had no say in
what went on behind the hallowed doors of the abortionists.

Lawmakers in Iowa passed a bill that denies reimbursement
to abortion clinics relying on Medicaid. The law went into effect July 1. Health
services‒unrelated
to killing‒will
still be refunded.

Catholics have sued the city of St. Louis for
disrespecting the religious liberty rights of employers and landlords opposed
to abortion. The law mandates that all employers‒including catholic
institutions‒must
respect the reproductive health decisions of it employees. This could mean that
pro-abortion teachers may have grounds to sue if denied a teaching job at a
Catholic school. Such a charge against the school would, of course, require
proof on the part of plaintiff.

The Texas legislature passed a bill that respects the
autonomy of foster care and adoption agencies that receive public funding. As
might be expected, radical homosexuals, as well as men and women who have
undergone surgery to acquire the genitals of the opposite sex, are hugely unhappy
with this move toward religious liberty. What’s good news for the ninety-plus
percent is sour grapes for those who have been behind the pushing of deviant
legislation down our throats for so long. Perhaps someday we’ll see the end of
allowing whatcha-ma-callits into the restrooms and locker rooms of the opposite
sex.

You may be wondering what all of this has to do with
President Trump. He said earlier this year it was not his intention to see Roe
v. Wade ditched, then have the consequent abortion laws overseen by the federal
government. Mr. Trump as well as the majority of Conservatives in America
believe personal issues should be legislated by the states, not Washington.
That the above states are leading the way in relieving the nation of some egregious
laws without the fear of Washington interfering might truly be called the “Trump
Effect.”

This kind of thing
does of course have the ACLU and Planned Parenthood screaming, with much
pulling out of hair and gnashing of teeth, and crowing about how unfair it all
is. Tough stuff. Tell that to the 60-plus-million tiny souls condemned to death
without a life. These assholes need to get a heart, and forget about this “it’s
a woman’s right” crap. We’ve seen what happens when women get a choice. Sixty
million killings in 44 years‒one million three hundred fifty
thousand babies per year ‒who never got a chance to live so the mother could have
the convenience of not being pregnant.

Way to go, ladies!

Congrats!

That’s real close to the total number of people killed in
the whole world during World War II. What you’ve done is shown, that when given
a choice, what your priorities are. Death over inconvenience.

You should be so proud.

The time is past (and has been for a long time)
for this insanity to end. And hopefully it will, but, sadly, probably not in
New York. Our Democrat politicians‒namely,
Shumer, Gillibrand and Crowmo‒will
assure the time-honored tradition abortion-on-demand persists in our state.
Time to consider replacements

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

It sometimes bothers me,
and I would be willing to bet it bothers most of you, that there seems to be no
“divine” exceptions when it comes to pain and misery for nice people. Most nice
people, if asked, would cast their vote for catching a break when suffering is
involved. (Now that I think about it, most not-so-nice people would also vote
that way – but good people are more deserving, right?)

My wife is one of the
nicest people God ever put on earth. There is no one who knows her would
disagree - even those who don’t know her personally but have heard of her kindnesses
would agree. It would seem that if God were truly on the ball when it comes to
dishing out fair treatment where pain and suffering are concerned, Mary would
catch a break. That God would be nicer to her, if for no other reason, so she
can keep doing for people the way she does. But no, that’s not the case. She
battles neck pain, back pain, and really bad pain in her legs most every day.
Then there’s the pain in her shoulders and the arthritis in her hands … well,
you get my drift. She is just one of many good people who suffer the aches and
pains of growing older.

But Mary does not blame
God for the pain she suffers. Quite the contrary. She attributes the pain she
doesn’t have to God. She’ll have a good day, one without much pain, and she
thanks God for it. She also thanks God for being otherwise healthy. (In fact,
at this very minute, she can’t wait for the grass to dry so she can mow.)

I only bring this up
because, I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s a way of looking at God that’s a bit
different. Too many of us blame God for things that befall us‒a crippling injury, a terminal illness, the loss of a
job, a financial setback, etc.‒but
seem to forget about Him when perhaps a bit of praise is due. I often complain
about my physical problems, but as painful as they are at times, they do not
compare to cancer or Alsheimersor the
many other serious maladies that afflict mankind. I always thank God for my
lack of such illnesses (I often wonder why I bother. It would seem that if he
can keep cancer away, he could fix a bad back, but He doesn’t bother).

Ever think what it would
be like to live forever? Of course, as mortals living forever isn’t possible.
But what if it was? Would people who suffer from pain suffer forever? Or would
the pain go away at some point? Would people who suffer from cancer or
Alsheimersbe afflicted until the end of
time? It would seem that would be a suitable punishment for really bad people.

Have you ever read
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels? Goes something like this: In Swift’s land
of Luggnaggians, occasionally a child was born with a red spot on his forehead.
This red spot was a sign that the child would never die. Gulliver, our traveler,
believes these people to be the most fortunate people imaginable, being born
exempt from that most fearsome of human maladies, death. But the longer
Gulliver stays in Luggnaggia, he comes to realize the inhabitants are the most
miserable of creatures. The immortals grow old and feeble; their friends die
off. At the age of eighty, their property is confiscated and given to their
children, who would never, otherwise, inherit from them. Their bodies acquire
various ailments, they accumulate grudges and grievances, they grow weary of
living, and they can never look forward to being released from the drudgery of
life.

The reader of Gulliver’s
Travels comes to pity the person who cannot die. A person who lives with pain
might agree with that assessment. At some point, death would be agreeable.

If people lived forever
the world would become impossibly crowded. The amassed throngs would likely not
be allowed to have children. In fact, you and I may never have been born. The
way things are, the way God designed the world(?), is an efficient way for the
old to make way for the new. It is never good that the new make way for the
new. The death of a child is a sad, sad affair.

Although there are instances
when death is agreeable, it is something else again to try to tell a person who
has lost a parent, a spouse, or a child that death is appropriate. We have seen
instances of this, and it is a thoughtless practiceto try to convince parents that their
little boy who was run down in the street chasing a ballthat the little fellow is in a better
place. It’s a callus practice, still in use by many priests, in an effort to
make us feel better.

Thing is, we can’t explain
untimely death any more than we can explain life itself.

And nobody has been able
to offer a satisfactory explanation for that.

Monday, July 17, 2017

As a result of our last meeting, it is right to say that
life ain’t fair.

That’s odd. I was always told, as a kid, life is fair;
life is what you make it. It was only later I starting hearing something closer
to the truth: Life’s a bitch and then you die.

True, it’s not that way for everybody. Some people get
through life without major calamity befalling them. I don’t think that’s fair.
It’s not fair to the rest of us who have suffered to some degree, or a lot,
whatever we believe God has stricken us with.

But is all the pain in the world really God’s fault?

Some say yes, because is he not all-powerful and is he
not responsible for everything that happens in the world? Some are a little
kinder in their assessment of God; they say, God is just and fair and wants
people to get what they deserve‒the good will prosper and the bad are
punished. Into this we must add a plea for ourselves: We are good people. (If
you’re not good; if you sell drugs, molest children, kill people, are a thief,
this applies to you also, as there is no guarantee God will punish you. For
some reason, the rules break down here.)

If God is both just and powerful then we deserve whatever
he deems is fitting and should consider it our due. But we’ve agreed that God
is not fair in His treatment of us. So perhaps we need to erase the word “just”
and just think of God as powerful. Like one of the kings of olden times who
held the power of life and death of all their subjects in their hands. Think
about that. Having that kind of power and not even being gods. They just
thought they were. You can bet their subjects had other words for them.

So now God is not “just”, he’s just powerful. We can pray
for interventions on our behalf, or the behalf of others, but God is free to
ignore them. Or is He just so busy He doesn’t hear us? At any rate, even with
all his power, he chooses not to alleviate our suffering.

No matter what, we are still asked to believe God is good
and has control of everything in the universe. But the one thing I’ve never
been able to understand is why God chose to not reveal himself in the past two
thousand years. It is precisely that he does not respond to prayers and never
appears that he loses fans. Millions of people still flock to church and pray
to him simply because humans need a supreme being to pray to. If He showed up just
once and let us know He really and truly exists, you can bet the world would be
a more moral place in which to live. You know the TV commercial in which two
guys are mooning over a couch. One guy is holding a crowbar (we suspect he used
the tool to gain entry) and he says, “I gotta have it,” meaning he plans to
steal the couch. I wonder if he’d dare do it if he thought God might be
watching.

But of course, it is God’s sympathy, accountability, and
fairness that are at issue, not His existence. Most of us would not deny the
existence of God‒of course, there is a god; the universe, the earth, the
human race all had to come from someplace.

Of course, with a
god we believe to be all-powerful but not just, we must recognize that with
those creds he doesn’t have to be fair. All we can do is hope … and pray, just
don’t count on it doing any good.

I would think that God wants the righteous to live
peaceful, happy lives, but it’s pretty obvious he cannot always bring it off.
On a planet with 6 billion people, how could it be possible for even an
all-powerful god to keep cruelty and terrorism and disease from claiming
innocent victims. But you must ask yourself, would a world without at least the
concept of God be better off? There are a lot of good people in the world who
are good only because of their belief in and their fear of God. How the others
avoided God is beyond me. He’s supposed to be everywhere.

So now if we swap out all-powerful for just and fair,
where does that leave us? Our usual response to a diagnosis of disease or a crippling
injury is to blame God. But we have just absolved God from blame for such
things. He simply doesn’t have the time or, when you think about it, the
motivation to pick you out of all the people on earth to hammer with a bad
disease or injury. (Let’s face it, kiddo, no matter how bad you are or have
been, there is someone out there much worse than you) And let’s get serious, is
there any way He could keep an eye on the hundreds of trillions of chemical reactions
going on in the bodies of every human being, every second of every day?

We have all (well, most of us anyway) grown up believing
in an all-wise, all-powerful, all-knowing God and it will be very hard for us
to change our way of thinking about Him. To change our thinking on any of these
ideals of Him is, well, unthinkable. We want to hold on to our thoughts about
what God is, just as we wanted to hold on to our conceptions about our parents
when we were children‒all-powerful, all-knowing. Remember? Dad with his know-how
and magic hands could fix anything and Mom could fix the most painful boo-boo
with a peck on the nose and a hug. Later, however, we discovered the
fallibility of our parents‒broken toys had to be thrown out because they could not be
fixed, not because Dad didn’t want to fix them. And there were some boo-boos
Mom could not kiss away. Just as these things were realized, we must come to
grips with the knowledge there are some things God does not control. With this
knowledge we can afford him the same consideration we gave our parents when we
had to change our minds about them.

We can then quell
our anger, and maintain our self-respect and sense of goodness about ourselves,
without feeling that God has judged us and condemned us because we were bad in
this or a previous life. That bad things happen to good people and God isn’t
picking on just you.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Today’s topic will upset some people; some, probably
most, will agree. It has been in the forefront of my mind for some time as I am
reminded of past friends who had not completed their lives peaceably, and recently
met some new ones with debilitating ailments.

From time to time I read on Facebook comments made by a,
seemingly, young woman who is suffering from cancer. I do not know her but I
know about her, as I have known many under such circumstances. When I read her
comments and those of others, I ask myself why is this happening? Why does this
young woman, who I believe has young children, and my many friends and
acquaintances have to suffer before they die?

I had always thought the reason for pain was to inform
the body there was something wrong, so it could be fixed. But what is the
reason for ongoing pain, which is what most of us experience?

The woman on Facebook’s words echo the pain she suffers
from cancer every day, long after she is aware of the condition. Her words are
pleas for a release of her suffering. She must know, as we all know, there is
only One with power to help her. All of us in pain, all who suffer some sort of
grief, pray that He will response in a kind and gentle way. After all, is He not
kind and gentle?

Why is it then I’ve never seen an instance where He has
shown a suffering person His mercy? Suffering people continue to suffer. Family
and friends stricken by the tragedy wait for their prayers to be answered, but
they never are. They must come to terms in whatever way they can. It’s best not
to wait for God’s help.

Throughout our formative years, listening to sermons or
homilies, we are reminded of God’s promise to reward those people who behave
well and do good things and to punish those who stray and do evil. But is this
really the way it works? Looked at with an objective eye, God’s system of
reward and punishment seems arbitrary, or more appropriately, totally unfair.
By all accounts Lou Gehrig was a nice man, but he ended his days suffering from
the horribly debilitating disease that bears his name. One of the greatest Yankee hitters of all time is remembered more for the disease God would not take away than for his accomplishments on the baseball diamond. Where’s the justice in
that? Pointless suffering seems more the rule than the exception.

There are those‒and I’m acquainted with several‒who
believe those that suffer are being punished for some foul deed committed
either as an adult or as a child, in this life or a previous one.

I don’t know about you, but I would have a terrible time
attending services sponsored by a god who caused a tiny child to bear the
ravages of leukemia or would lay the burden of cancer on a young mother for a
morally wrong deed committed in a previous life.

If this belief were not a part of the fiber of some religious
ideal and thought of as sacrosanct, it would be considered ludicrous.Yet when you tell these people that it cannot
be, that a kind and sensible God doesn’t work that way, they look at you with
wide, round eyes that say, “That’s what we believe. Nothing you say (no matter
how much sense you make) is going to change that. So there!” They stop a bit short of sticking their tongues out at you.

I’ve wondered if the severity of the punishment is
intended to reflect the degree of naughtiness committed. If so, the poor soul
on Facebook must have been a monster. But somehow I don’t believe that to be
the case. She doesn’r come across as a Stalin or a Hitler or a Ma Barker, for that matter.

My friend Don Terry, a truly wonderful man, died of
Alsheimers at age 56. Don suffered the ravages of dementia , as did his family
and friends, from age 51. Suffered, died, and was buried in only five years. I’m
not aware of any offense that deserves that fate.

Sometimes it’s not the afflicted who suffer. By wife’s
brother John drown in Long Island Sound at age 19. No one knows the exact
circumstances, he was found in the water by his cousin (who, by the way, is
currently dying from a brain tumor). The “compassion” of some members of the
NYC police department was on full display when John’s parents returned home
from work to find a note stuck to their front door. The note said, “Your son
DOA, Bronx Hospital.” That’s it. Nothing more. The shock to these two kind and
gentle souls, and John’s two brothers and his sister, was profound. John was a
really good kid and surely didn’t deserve to die at such a young age.

As an additional kick in the teeth, the priest, during
the funeral, spoke of how God does not lay heavier burdens on us than we can
bear.My father-in-law responded to this
hoi polloi by saying, “I wish He hadn’t thought we were so tough.”

It’s odd, isn’t it, that so many people who have had
burdens laid on them, burdens they were supposed to be able to bear, thought
the burdens were almost too much. Many lives were ruined by such burdens.

I once heard a homily in which the priest did his best to
make a case for pain and suffering as educational. I paraphrase his closing
remark: “The purpose of suffering is to repair that which is faulty in a man’s
personality.”

What?

He was saying that just as a parent must punish a child
whom he loves, for the child’s sake, so the child will learn an important
lesson, God must punish us for being “bad men and women.” When God’s in a good
mood he gives us a bad cold or the flu. When He’s feeling a bit crotchety, he hits
us with cancer or Lou Gehrig’s disease or MS in place of a slap on the butt for
being naughty.

I don’t buy it, not a bit of it.

How can a kind and merciful god belabor good folks with
unbearable suffering (never offering a bit of relief) and allow those who bring
unspeakable misery to the rest of us to live long lives unscathed?It makes no sense. And if it makes sense to
God, he’s wrong

I don’t believe God has anything to do with any of this.
He doesn’t prevent and he doesn’t promote.I’m not even sure He can make suffering disappear. Keeping track of hundreds
of trillions of chemical reactions wouldn’t be possible for even God. He’d have
to goof up someplace.

The conundrum is this: If God is all-powerful then he
should be able to cure our suffering; if he can’t (or won’t) then he’s not the
kind and merciful God he’s made out to be. What are we going to do about that?

Monday, July 3, 2017

I was exploring the
origins of political types when I happen to wander into the pits of Hell.

Well, come to think of it,
I wasn’t quite to Hell just yet, but, judging by the heat, I knew I was close.

I stumbled into a large
room. There were two human-like people there, one in a gown and sported a pair
of wings and a halo. The other was all red and naked, had a long tail with a
spear point at the end and a set of horns. The two were making plans to work on
a project together.

“So what are we going to
make,” asked the winged one.

“A humanoid political
type, replied the one in red.

“Sounds interesting. Where
do we start?”

“First, we fill these
molds,” sweeping an arm to direct attention to several thousand more or less
human-shaped molds scattered throughout the room, “with this mixture of sludge
and muck‒ dare
we call it schmuck, for short‒and
allow it to harden. This, of course, is the concoction for building Liberal
types.”

“The mixture is different for
Conservatives?”

“Oh, gosh yes. For the
Conservative political type, we will use a much more refined, but as yet
undetermined, mold full of muck.”

“But where do we find more
refined political muck?’

“Don’t forget, we are in
the early stages of our experiment. There will be mistakes. It’s best to make
all our mistakes with Liberals. Then when we get to making Conservatives, we’ll
have worked out all the kinks, and have a blueprint for fine, upstanding human
beings. Worthwhile people.”

“Liberals aren’t
worthwhile?”

“Nah, not by a long shot.
So far we just have prototypes with a half a brain. They really shouldn’t have
any legitimate standing in the human community. But crap happens. Look, you
can’t realistically expect us to get it right the first time. Maybe after
cooking up a few more batches of schmuck, we’ll get the hang of it.” He said
this while pouring a large chunk of schmuck into a mold, lowering the lid, and
turning up the heat.

“Whoa, boy, does that
stuff stink,” waving her hand in front of her nose.

“Yep, that’s liberals for
you. A smelly bunch.”

“Will these Liberals talk
and think?”

“Oh, boy, will they ever
talk. Yak, yak, yakety yak, all the time.Mouths going a mile a minute. Never shutting up, especially if one feels
he’s been offended, then they all chime in to protect the damned fool. Thing
is, for the most part, they’ll make no sense.”

“That’s strange,
human-types are usually pretty smart.”

“Not so with Liberals.
Brains are a scant commodity in Liberalville. Ones with brains are hugely rare
and highly regarded because of their rareness.”

“Can you name a highly
regarded Liberal?”

“I can’t, no. But if you
ask Liberals, they’ll name some, I’m sure. For instance, Liberals think Barack
Obama is the cat’s ass, as well as Slick Willie Clinton and his wife, Nutty
Nancy, and Cherokee Elizabeth Warren.”

“Conservatives don’t
believe these are worthwhile people?’

“Let’s just say
Conservatives think we’d all be better off if they weren’t around.”

“You were saying Liberals
don’t think very well. Don’t you think they will be upset about that and demand
more brains?”

“Hell, these fools think
they have all the brains, now. They criticize Conservatives no end for being
stupid. Hillary called Conservatives despicable, when it is Liberals that are
despicable because of their total disregard for the truth, and the lies they
spread about other people.”
“If these are the prototypes of Liberals, how is it we have such horrible
examples of liberalism already?”

“There is batch of early
protoLiberals out there. We didn’t do anything right with that bunch. The group
includes all the usual suspects‒Dingy
Harry Reid, HRC, Nutty Nancy, Cherokee Liz, Chucky Shumer. And, of course, BHO.
The project nearly fell apart when he came along. The Boss was tempted to move
up the Second Coming and smite the Liberal population. But, being the good guy
that he is, he relented. Conservatives howled, sure the Boss left them here to
irritate the hell out of decent people, making them more suitable for Heaven.”

“Tell me. What went wrong
with the early prototypes and is likely to go wrong with this bunch we’re
cooking up, now?”

“Well, to make a really
good human political type you need lots of really good glue. One of the
problems we had was that the glue we received was substandard. We didn’t know
this and went and made quite a number of substandard Liberal political types‒Nutty Nancy, Dingy Harry, HRC, to name a few‒all of whom became unglued at one time or another. It
was an ugly thing for regular Liberals to see their political leaders lose
their freaking minds.”

“Doesn’t that ever happen
to Conservatives?”

“Never!”

“What else can happen to
Liberals to cause them to lose their sloppily designed minds?”

“Many things, actually,
but the most important thing is that we were so anxious to release our
invention, we got into too much of a hurry and released them too soon.”

“What on earth happened?”

“We were using apprentice
mechanics, to save some money, and, of course, come Friday afternoons and
Monday mornings, we weren’t seeing their best work.”

“Oh, yes, the long weekend
syndrome.”

“Exactly. Those little
devils got in a hurry and released onto the world massive numbers of Liberals
with loose screws. Some had light bulbs in their heads that flickered out. And
there were those walking around strumming their lips and making goo-goo sounds.
Somehow there were an inordinate number of these who got spots on cable
television.

About Me

I've been writing this stuff off and on for thirty years. Newshawk is well-known locally - he's trying to stretch out. For those of you who really like Newshawk and his cronies, there's a book The Newshawk Reports: The Writings of a Politically Incorrect Newsbird. The book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. A Kindle book is also available on Amazon.